Alabama

Tough golf course awaits South Alabama men in Memphis Intercollegiate

CORDOVA, Tenn. - Usually, coaches keep an eye on the leaderboard at a golf tournament to see how their squad is faring in the standings. That won't be the case on Monday, however, when the University of South Alabama men's golf team begins play at the Memphis Intercollegiate.

"This is a good event with a lot of quality teams, but our focus is on the golf course; it has to be because the course beat us last year," explained Jaguar head coach Ben Hannan. "It's a hard enough golf course where if you can compete against the course and play well, you will finish well. Having a familiarity with the course will help us better prepare for this year's event.

"All the guys that are participating this week had an opportunity to play in the tournament last year, which is certainly a positive. We were challenged with the greens last year -- the pace, the firmness -- which is something we will be more familiar with; hopefully that will lead to better results."

In each of their four tournaments during the spring season, the Jags have lowered their score in successive rounds; last time out at the Tiger Invitational hosted by Auburn March 11-12, USA was in 12th place among the 15 teams competing during the opening round before rebounding to post a fourth-place finish. It was the Jaguars' fifth top-five performance in eight events this season.

Tyler Klava carded scores of even-par 72 and 73 on the final day, tying for sixth place individually with a 222 total while leading the team at the tournament. It was the second time this spring that the junior has accomplished the feat, and it was his third top-10 finish of the year. With the performance, Klava lowered his season stroke average to 73.93.

Michael Garretson leads the team in that category, standing fifth in the Sun Belt Conference with a 72.93 average. The sophomore paced the Jaguars on the opening day of the Tiger Invitational with a 3-under-par 69, which was his 11th score of par or lower on the season. Garretson also paces the squad with four top-10 and six top-20 finishes this year.

Blake Kelley has finished 30th or better individually in each of the last five events, which he accomplished with a final-round 74 last time out. The junior has a 75.21 scoring average and has shot par or lower four times this season, with three of those rounds coming in the spring.

Lane Hulse and Jared Burleson will round out the lineup for the Jags, with the two posting 74.79 and 76.50 stroke averages, respectively. Hulse has carded at least one round of par or better in three of the last four tournaments -- he has five total on the year -- while his 74 over the second 18 holes at the Tiger Invitational was the second-lowest score on the squad in the middle round. Burleson had a 1-over-par 73 in the final round of the event, one stroke shy of equaling his season-low score; it was the second week in a row that the senior has shot a 73.

Sophomore Parker Jones will be playing as an individual in the tournament, entering the competition with a 75.27 scoring average in 15 rounds this year. At the Mobile Bay Intercollegiate Feb. 18-19, Jones led the Jags with a 3-under-par 69 on the last day, and he opened the spring campaign with a 72 over the first 18 holes at the SunTrust Gator Invitational as well.

Garretson led USA with a 54-hole 229 total at last year's Memphis Intercollegiate, and Klava ended up in the top 40 individually too. As a squad, the Jaguars finished in 10th place, although the previous two years USA claimed both the team and individual titles.

Play will begin at the par-72, 7,249-yard Colonial Country Club South Course at 8 a.m. Monday, with 36 holes scheduled to be completed. Tuesday's final round will start at the first and 10th tees at 8 a.m. as well, with www.golfstat.com providing live stats on both days.

The field for the event includes 16 teams, with four of those -- Texas Tech (29th), Vanderbilt (35th), Ball State (43rd) and USA (46th) ranked in this week's top 50 nationally according to Golfstat. Four other Sun Belt Conference schools will be playing as well, with Arkansas State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky set to compete, with Austin Peay, Cincinnati, Cleveland State, DePaul, Louisville, Missouri-Kansas City and Southern Mississippi set to join host Memphis.

On the first day the Jaguars will be paired with Ball State and Louisville, starting play on the fourth, fifth and sixth holes.

"As we head into the next few weeks approaching the conference championships, we are certainly in control of our own destiny," Hannan observed. "If we play like we are capable of and to our ability, everything else -- the rankings, postseason play -- will all take care of itself. At this point, our focus is on individually preparing and committing to the process to get ready for the Sun Belt Championships.